The themed land based around popular Pixar movie franchise Toy Story will be situated near the Toon Studio area of the Studios Park and should be ready for visitors by the summer of this year, though a set date has yet to be announced.

The opening of the land is set to coincide with the beginning of Disneyland Resort Paris’ new marketing campaign the ‘New Generation Festival’ based around more recent movie offerings from the Disney and Pixar animation studios.

The interview with Simon represents the first time a price tag has been placed on the new land and many may be surprised by such a high investment in the resort when Euro Disney S.C.A only recently announced major losses for the last financial year.

Many have been critical of the planned attractions in the Toy Story Playland area, claiming them to be more suited to a standard amusement park than a world-class Disney theme park. However no one can argue with the level of investment in the park. Even with the recent economic downturn Euro Disney S.C.A are investing a considerable sum in the land and that can only be seen as a good sign of things to come as economic recovery is becoming a realistic prospect in Central Europe.

Toy Story Playland isn't anywhere near the size of Paradise Pier, thankfully.

Up until this point the Studios has just got better and better and the addition of the Tower of Terror was exactly what it needed. For me Toy Story Playland is a bit of a step in the wrong direction, but based on the amount being spent (The same amount it cost to build ToT) I can see it being highly themed, which may just make the land look acceptable.

I'm hoping that the overall plan with Toy Story Playland is to add Toy Story Mania at some point in the near future, although I can't see that happening, not with the other proposed attractions for the park.

If I understand the euros to dollars conversion right, this €70 million expenditure is about $100 million dollars, right? I think TSMM was about $80 million alone. However, I do agree, if TSMM was added at some point, it might help supply some cohesiveness to the area. It still seems like Disney is being a bit on the cheap side right now especially for a park that was, as you say, trending in the right direction.

However, I learned a long time ago to never judge Disney until you see the finished product (excepting for the American Idol Experience, of course - ugh!). Perhaps this new midway area will be much better in reality than on paper?

As you say, we'll have to see the finished product before we make a final judgement. I thought TSMM wasn't going to be too popular due to Buzz over at the Magic Kingdom being very similar. Look how wrong I was!

The one Pixar-related dog in the Disney theme park empire has been A Bug's Land at California Adventure, and this project sounds just a bit too much like that for my taste. ("Built to make people feel small?" Check! "Small carny rides?" Check! "No appeal for adults or kids older than 8?" Check!)

Keep the families with the little kids isolated from those with bigger kids, or no kids at all. These lands do that.

Whether that's a smart move is another debate. But families with small kids create guest flow issues in a lot of locations. Isolating them in their own lands can help make other areas of the park operate more efficiently. Plus, with these lands, the parents of those smaller kids are more likely to feel that their family's needs are met by the park.

Toddler segregation is one thing. Fantasyland is largely for families with young children, and it's getting a refurbishment. Surely their reasoning behind a refurbishment was that it was old and aesthetically unpleasant due to its midway feel. In light of that, and the bombarding complaints about Dinorama et al., how can they justify this thing?